The Happy Gut Place

03/06/2025

To coffee lovers: The findings do suggest that people don’t necessarily need to decrease their coffee consumption in the name of healthy aging, Kao said.

“Coffee is an important and positive part of daily life in many cultures around the world, he said. “For many … the knowledge that a daily coffee or 3 is probably not harmful is welcome news.”

Women in midlife who drink coffee daily may have a better chance of living longer and free of 11 chronic diseases, a new study suggests.

26/02/2025

Just released research of yet again the benefits of a Mediterranean diet...it certainly ticks many boxes.

The questions to ask yourself when introducing some tweaks is...:
1. do you feel better from the inside out?
2. does it taste delicious?
3. can you do it for life?

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/25/health/mediterranean-diet-cancer-prevention-wellness/index.html

Start somewhere...
“Set small goals. A good first step is look at what your diet might be missing rather than focusing on removing forbidden foods.”

Add blueberries to your morning meal, munch on a handful of nuts for a snack, and eating a salad with lunch are good ways to start, she said. Then try to fill more of your dinner plate with vegetables, whole grains and legumes, and consider a piece of fruit for dessert.

“We really want a consistent diet that can be sustained over time,” Wohlford said. “Trying a Mediterranean style diet for three or four months to meet certain metrics is not necessarily going to reduce your risk of cancer. You want to adopt this type of diet consistently throughout the course of the rest of your life.”

Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of obesity-related cancers, but not in the way researchers expected.

14/01/2025

Great article to yet again remind us to move more for optimal health.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/why-your-body-evolved-to-penalise-you-for-not-exercising-even-if-you-hate-it-20250114-p5l45v.html

Physical activity guidelines recommend 1¼ hours of intense activity a week, including strength training – for everyone, no matter their age.

“Everyone can do with more muscle on their body, more strength. Your joints aren’t going to be copping so much of the load because you’ve got more muscle on your skeleton to do the heavy lifting,”

I would like to add remember to fuel for your activity. Ask yourself during your activity on whether you feel you have the intensity or not. Do you want to exercise (or could easily make an excuse)? If the answer is yes to both your fuelling is usually about spot on. Remember to appreciate your energy needs will change during your menstrual cycle. Bottom line: Listen to your body.

Why would evolution produce an organism that must spend 150 minutes a week doing things like running on a treadmill to maintain health?

05/01/2025

May 2025 be all you wish for and more.

I could not resist starting the year with an excellent article below on vegetables....perhaps not surprisingly however I feel they are underestimated. If you were to make one lasting change this year crosscheck the amount and type of veggies you eat on a daily basis.

1. The goal is x3 cups of cooked veggies daily or double if salad....it is x2 fist sizes in each main meal or half a plate. It is quite alot at first.
2. Slowly build up your quantity as otherwise your gut bugs will have a party and you may experience bloating.
3. Explore frozen veg as this makes it easier to eat more.

Over time if your norm is more veg then your body will feel better from the inside out including better poops....a win win.

All fresh food is good for us but some vegies are so chock-full of essential nutrients that they earn super vegetable status. Here’s a guide to the top 10.

01/11/2024

28/10/2024

Hi. I cannot resist encouraging you to follow on instagram one of my favourite gut health experts, Megan Rossi who is both a dietitian and a scientist. She debunks the misleading information on hot topics. She also shares some excellent blogs on her website, plant based focused recipes to feed the many trillions of gut bugs to keep them happy as well as a free monthly newsletter you can subscribe to.

Dr Megan Rossi (PhD, RD) founded The Gut Health Doctor to empower everyone to take control of their own health and well-being.